The purpose of this blog has been discussing the importance of churches being culturally relevant. When I originally created this blog I chose the word “relevant” for lack of a better word. I have yet to come up with the perfect, sought after, word… but the closest term that I’m looking for is “innovative.”

I have come to dislike the term “relevant” more and more in reference to the church because it carries a couple connotations. Relevant usually means “keep up with the culture.” The term relevant basically means that others have created the culture and those who are “relevant” are just keeping up. What if the church was so stinking innovative that they created culture, and they determined what was “relevant.” What if the world said things like, “that church is doing amazing things… lets follow them in what they’re doing.”

Thus, the my new blog is The Worship Artist which is created to be a discussion on culture, art, and the church. If you are a current subscriber to “The Relevant Church,” your subscription will be moved over shortly.

The following essay is a paper that is special to me because it was a spiritual milestone. I went into the paper with the hopes of logically arguing against Predestination, but finished the paper with a great revelation of God. It is funny how I use to think, “I can’t believe Predestination because I would have to make great theological leaps in order to get scripture to fit around Predestination.” Now, I’ve found that my new acceptance of Predestination has freed me to have a greater understanding of God and His scriptures. It is important to note that it was not the writings of Calvin or Piper that caused me to change my views… but scripture alone (especially Romans 9). Anyways, please take a few moments to read. I, unfortunately, cannot copy and paste the text due to some formatting issues, but you can follow the link to read it. Feel free to drop a comment on your thoughts.
Predestination In Scriptures.

This morning I’ve been searching for videos to use in church, and I came across this video on godtube.

At first I kinda felt bad for the guy in the Kiss costume because I felt like he was being attacked. It seemed like the interviewer was trapping him with a camera, microphone, and questions. Plus, the interviewer is a strong personality which added to the feeling of entrapment. However, watch the guy’s face at the end of the video. It seems like he was listening and taking the Gospel to heart.

Check it out… think about these questions for discussion:
1. Could this be considered a “success?”
2. Should everyone use this method?
3. Is this method a good or bad method, and why?
4. What were your over all feelings about the video while watching it?

I had the privelage to hear Voddie Baucham speak at a worship conference that I went to in high school. This morning I heard that Voddie was speaking on “The Call to Discipleship” on a radio station and what he said was so unique that I thought I should share it with everyone. If you are a podcast listener you can subscribe to the Family Life Today podcast at:
http://rss.streamos.com/streamos/rss/genfeed.php?feedid=253&groupname=familylife or directly find it though FLT’s website familylife.com

Voddie’s church does not have a youth group. He says that their church is challenging fathers to be the pastor of their home. Rather than sending their children off to be taught and pastored by someone else, they expect the father’s to pastor their house. He says that they’re beginning to see strong famlies, strong marriages, and men who are stepping up to be the spiritual leader in their household. They’ve started a new church last April based on this family driven principle and they’re already up to 200-300 people in their services and are looking at starting another church plant. He says that people are tired, and even afraid, to send their children to youth groups. In churches it’s expected that youth get sent way to youth group, and parents don’t like what they see…. this is why the church has grown so fast.

The odd thing is that Voddie’s idea of “Family Driven Faith” is revolutionary. “Family Driven Faith” seems to have more biblical support than “youth groups” and many of the other programs that our churches seem to come up with. (more…)

A previous post titled, “Witnessing in the 21st century” seems to have an interesting discussion going on. I thought I’d create another post with my response:

Billy Graham is probably the best example for the point I’m trying to make. His “witnessing style” is largely different than what Christians are taught today. He holds these crusades and people come. They often are coming because of Billy’s reputation. Billy Graham has brought countless people to Christ, does that mean we all should mimic his witnessing style? Most people would answer, “no, if I held a crusade…. it just wouldn’t have the same effect.” Also, if anything, Billy Graham probably favors discipleship more than evangelism. (more…)

Over this past weekend I went to a church tech conference hosted by Cignal Systems.

I went to a seminar called “Video Projector Basics,” I learned a lot. This is great knowledge for anyone who thinks they’ll ever be dealing with projectors. Check out my notes.

The question is: How do you feel about your church?

Go to: relevantchurch.blogsome.com and vote.

I enjoy trying to “figure out” people. When working with a group (like our worship team), I often watch people’s reactions to see what kind of person they are. I try to notice how they respond to criticism, change, and leadership in general… I try to keep these things in mind when dealing with specific people in order to get the best response from the person. Sometimes this work great… and sometimes it doesn’t. Either way it’s been a learning experience.

Part of this leadership thing, is not only figuring out others, but figuring out myself. I’ve been trying to be aware of my strengths and weaknesses. I found this site that has two great tests for evaluating your personality. Here’s my results:

Good news! Worship House Media is giving away a different video each day until Christmas. So sign up for an account and try to make a daily visit until Christmas.

Our Worship Arts team sat down last Wednesday and had a meeting. When I first came to my church I didn’t want to start off giving them a list of things that they’re going to change–this meeting was to catch up on things that we haven’t had a chance to sit down and talk about. The commitment listed 7 things that we’re going to commit to as well as work on. These 7 commitments each person (current and future members) is expected to know them and follow them. (more…)